Four reasons why “liberal” conspiracy theories about ed reform (and Don Samuels) sound so much like Fox News

By |

Sarah Lahm’s conspiracy piece about “billionaire and TFA”  money flooding in to support Don Samuels in the Minneapolis School Board race went national last week. Washington Post columnist Valerie Strauss (a staunch opponent of ed reform) reprinted Lahm’s original piece from “In These Times.” This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.A few days later, some Minneapolis voters woke up to find Lahm’s article tucked inside their screen doors with this helpful note, “I noticed a Don Samuels lawn sign in your yard. This may be information you need to make a more informed decision.”Key word here is “informed.”Which is sort of funny because Lahm’s piece is so loaded with factual errors, omissions and conspiracy theories, I scarcely know where to begin. It mirrors the stuff we progressives roll our eyes about when we hear it coming from Fox News.Related story: Don Samuels calls cops over hotdog giveawayHere are four things wrong with the piece:1) Lahm says that a California “billionaire” gave the Don Samuels campaign $10,000. This is false because:         a) the individual legal limit for an at-large school board candidate is $1,000 per person, so no one can give $10,000 to anyone’s campaign;         b) the alleged billionaire didn’t give any money to the Samuels campaign period.2) Lahm seems to be confused about personal contributions to a candidate’s individual campaign and contributions and in-kind services given by political groups.The big money tends to be in this latter category. And since Sarah Lahm is focussing on the latter……… Continue Reading

Kindness in chalk

By |

You could still see the messages written three different languages chalked on the sidewalk in front of my daughter’s school earlier this week from the October 10th Kindness in Chalk event. The words were faded then, but they still have me hope. Continue Reading

Bullies and building communities

By |

It’s October, so this is a good month to talk about the things and people that have scared us or tried to scare us over the years. Some of those fears were justified, and many were not. For those of us with roots in Laos and other parts of Southeast Asia who escaped the wars, this is an interesting question. Continue Reading

National religious right legal firm gets involved in MSHSL’s trans-inclusive proposal

By |

The Alliance Defending Freedom, a well-funded religious right legal outfit, has inserted itself into the debate over a transgender-inclusive athletics policy being considered by the Minnesota State High School League.ADF, formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund, was founded in 1994 by half a dozen prominent religious right groups including Focus on the Family, Campus Crusade for Christ, and the American Family Association. The group opposes reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and a secular society, and often uses its lawyers to insert itself into local debates.On Tuesday, the group announced that it has sent a letter to the Minnesota State High School League which is in the process of drafting a framework for how schools can create an inclusive environment for transgender athletes.The letter represents a fundamental misunderstandings about transgender students, misgendering them in the process: “Forcing students into vulnerable interactions with members of the opposite sex in secluded locker and hotel rooms disregards basic notions of personal dignity, which federal courts have recognized in a variety of contexts…. MSHSL and its member schools also have a common law duty to maintain school “property free of unreasonable risks of harm.”ADF also warned that religious schools might sue if the policy is implemented: “It is unlikely that a court would uphold the proposed transgender policy’s interference with religious freedom. Most, if not all, religious schools regard facilitating the denial and rejection of one’s God-given sex to be a grave sin. And religious students are precluded by basic modesty principles from sharing locker or hotel rooms with members of the opposite sex.”The group is also targeting transgender-inclusive policies in Wisconsin’s Sparta Area School District and Rhode Island’s Westerly Public Schools.Here’s the full letter:Download (PDF, 374KB)Related stories:Minnesota League tables trans-inclusive policy under mounting opposition (Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet, 2014)State athletics league mulls transgender inclusion in sports (Andy Birkey, The Colu.mn, 2014) Continue Reading

OPINION | Being Muslim does not mean less authenticity as an American teen

By |

You probably think that I am going to write about my hijab, the difficulties I have faced in a predominantly Christian country, or some other predictable topic that Muslims write about.Well, I am not.This is a story about a young girl who came to a foreign country from Yemen with her mother when she was eight. She would soon grow up with two cultures, two religions, and two separate worlds.This girl is now 17 years old and has finally found herself.When I was in grade school, I remember being taught to love my founding fathers and was pushed to celebrate with Thanksgiving turkey and cranberry sauce.“I am Arab,” I thought to myself, “how can some Britons be my ancestors?”I just accepted my new lifestyle to make people accept me.It was then that my mother noticed I was lost in my identity and decided to move me to a predominantly Muslim charter school in West St. Paul.We also moved to an area where most of the school staff and students resided. My life was soon filled with the company of Muslim immigrants who isolated themselves from American people.It was at age 10 that I began thinking about God all the time and noticed myself becoming even more religious than my own family members.Suddenly, I went from being a Western girl playing every sport there was and assimilating to American culture to an awkward tween who boycotted all music and alienated myself from my American peers.I also stopped eating turkey.EMBRACING BOTH IDENTITIESThe summer before my freshman year of high school, I went to a highly spiritual church camp that I had not been to since I was a little girl. I noticed changes. Continue Reading

Leading by example: New youth directors to lead Trans Youth Support Network

By |

Local trans youth can now officially turn to their peers for help in navigating a system they say doesn’t accommodate their needs.On July 1, Trans Youth Support Network transitioned into a completely youth-led organization. Jahleel Princeton Arcani, TayvonCaples, La’Niya Dixon and Jakob Rumble took over the organization, replacing TYSN’s previous adult leaders Katie Burgess and Roxanne Anderson. Officials say the transition will allow TYSN to better support trans youth in the Twin Cities.“We don’t just want to be serving youth,”Jakob Rumble said. “We want to be leading by example.”Rumble took over as financial director, and said it’s important for young trans people to support other young trans people when it comes to navigating societal and governmental systems.Trans youth face higher rates of poverty, higher drop-out rates, and more homelessness, he said, and they’re often forced into it.Some of TYSN’s support services include learning how to acquire jobs properly, and offering advice on how to pass as cis-gender in order to apply for a name change.Jahleel Princeton Arcani took over as the development and sustainability director, and said the group is excited about the change. The organization has always been youth-led since their board members must be under 30, he said, but this transition is the final push to a fully youth-led nonprofit.“It’s been a dream of the people who started TYSN for it to be youth led,”Arcani said, noting the two top leaders weren’t youth. Continue Reading